On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, the Michigan Senate approved legislation that would amend the Traxler-McCaule-Law-Bowman Bingo Act (“Bingo Act”) an act that governs charity gaming activity in the state.

Senate Bill 0187 (“SB 0187)introduced by Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), and House Bill 4293 (“HB 4293”), introduced by Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Eaton County) are companion bills that seek to overhaul the Bingo Act’s provisions regulating charitable millionaire parties held within the state. SB 0187 was received in the House on December 9, and has been referred to the House Committee on Regulatory Reform.

Notably, in June of this year, the Michigan Court of Appeals granted a motion by the Michigan Gaming Control Board (“MGCB”) to give immediate effect to new charity gaming regulations. The court previously decided to overturn an injunction preventing the rules from going into effect.

The MGCB and its Executive Director began enforcing the new regulations in May of 2014, but the Court of Claims placed an injunction on further enforcement of the new rules in August of 2014 after the rules were challenged on procedural grounds by the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association. On appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the rules were properly instituted and overturned the injunction on May 28, 2015.

On July 9, 2015, an appeal of the Appeal’s Court ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court was filed by the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association. The case remains before the Supreme Court.